“Are you ready to be a transference object?” Fred hesitated. The coffee shop seemed to become dead silent. One week earlier, Fred had been offered a dream job, as part time CEO of a startup, working for a proven star…
Blog Archives
Evaluating Staff Performance, Redux
It’s the end of Q4 and leaders are once more pondering staff performance evaluations. Most people evaluate too little too late. Here’s how you can get way, way ahead of the curve for 2013. As I’ve mentioned before, you’ll make…
Three Steps to Writing a Perfect Thank You Note
Few things differentiate you more than the way you make other people feel when they interact with you. Many top CEOs and politicians make a point of writing personal notes to people who have done them favors. A short, hand-written,…
Leading isn’t Coddling – How to Manage Someone who Can’t say “No”
“Aren’t I coddling him?” asks Sara, my client. I’m coaching her on handling her emotionally explosive subordinate, Joan, who a week earlier had erupted in a fit of yelling, then had dropped her ID card on Sara’s desk and gone home.…
Goal Setting for CEOs – beyond SMART and HARD
One of the CEO’s deliverables is creating a Culture. One way to strongly influence that culture is by the example the CEO creates when she sets goals — for herself or others. Here’s how to set goals even better than…
Motivate with The Progress Principle – Amabile and Kramer – Dec 12,2011
Managers are far more powerful than they realize, at affecting the performance of the people who work for and with them. New research by Toms guests, Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, lay out three specific types of things we can do to boost performan…
Candid Feedback Saves a Life
I recently saved someone’s life by giving him really candid feedback. On a recent Wednesday night I was at my weekly Toastmasters meeting, giving the General Evaluation. We were 62 minutes into our 75 minute program, and my job was…
On Being Blunt and Loving
The most absurd reason we offer for not being candid, blunt, or “honest” is because we want to spare the other person’s feelings. No, we shy away from candor because we are afraid for ourselves. We say “If I tell him the truth in a candid way, he will…
Evaluating Staff Performance
It’s the end of Q1 and my clients are once more asking about staff performance evaluations.For some, it’s the 2009 evaluation that’s late. For others, it’s a quarterly review that’s on time. And for others, it’s being triggered by a recent …
- Write a Perfect Thank-You Note, Again Tue 21-May-2013
- Why the Boss is Always Wrong Tue 07-May-2013
- On being Firm Thu 18-Apr-2013
- Six Steps to Solving a Problem Mon 15-Apr-2013
- The Changing Face of Luxury Sun 07-Apr-2013
- How to Harness Visual Leadership Sun 31-Mar-2013
- Stop Putting People First – Put Profit First Wed 27-Mar-2013
- Why your Employee is Always Right Tue 19-Mar-2013
- When is Anger Okay in the Work Place? Thu 14-Mar-2013
- Keep a Thin Skin Wed 27-Feb-2013